Article: Messaging Versus Groupware

by Ron Herardian|
©1998 Global System Services (GSS)

IS GROUPWARE THE NEXT STEP?

Many Lotus customers believe that Notes is the ineluctable next step for cc:Mail customers. While Notes is an excellent migration path away from cc:Mail, it is important to understand that it is also one of several migration paths away from LAN-based e-mail and from a file server based information systems infrastructure. E-mail is of course lighter and less costly than groupware and it provides some benefits that overlap those of groupware.

Nevertheless, it is not entirely clear that Notes is the future for cc:Mail customers -- not because the cc:Mail product line necessarily has a brilliant future but because the Notes is not without competitors in the messaging arena as an upgrade to existing file-server-based e-mail systems. For reasons that will be made clear momentarily, the window is wide open for Microsoft and Internet-based companies to win cc:Mail migration business in spite of Notes' privileged position in the Lotus product family. This is because (a) Notes is more resource intensive than mail; and (b) Notes is based on a different and less compatible architecture than all file-server-based e-mail and shared file database systems. There is also a time lag in the evolution of installed hardware infrastructures leaving the way open to `middle-ground', messaging-based client/server solutions, as well as Internet-based systems.

IS YOUR E-MAIL SYSTEM OBSOLETE?

Groupware, of course, has a lot to offer, but those who claim that e-mail is obsolete are simply misinformed regarding messaging. Lotus cc:Mail, for example, is the most popular LAN-based e-mail system in the world with 10 million users as of 1996. Yet 'migrationists' describe it as an "Edsel." This position discounts the new generation of file-server-based e-mail technology on the verge of release from cc:Mail (May, 1996). More to the point is the integration of cc:Mail with Internet and World Wide Web technologies through native TCP/IP protocols and the cc:Web server products.

What groupware advocates seem to be saying is that "groupware will replace LAN-based e-mail, therefore Notes will replace cc:Mail." Nevertheless, migration to client/server groupware can mean migrating an existing file server-based information systems infrastructure to client/server systems or duplicating server investments to support client/server systems along side traditional file server-based systems.

On the software side, migration can mean phasing out an existing file server based messaging infrastructure. These are costly implications that do not make business sense for a lot of messaging customers. The problem with migration has been the cost of bridging the gap between client/server and file server server components on the hardware side; and between client/server and file sharing messaging infrastructures on the software side. In the case of Notes, there has been an additional factor which will become less significant moving forward. Specifically, that the Notes client consumes several times more workstation resources than any file server-based e-mail product -- of course, there is much more functionality in Notes.

In the past, Lotus has tried to work around some of these issues by porting the Notes server to file server operating systems (other than OS/2), such as NetWare and NT. However, while this is an excellent strategy which has generally worked well for Lotus, it has not been enough to stimulate mass migrations from LAN-based e-mail to Notes. The reason is that the server overhead of Notes remains substantial. Notes needs dedicated servers, even when running on a file server OS like NetWare, and this puts customers back in the position of either replacing file servers with Notes servers or rolling out Notes servers side-by-side with existing file servers, thus duplicating hardware investments where the customer has file-server-based e-mail, and in some cases competing, although limited, groupware functionality such as calendaring and scheduling, or forms. This is especially for customers that have a UNIX-based infrastructure where Internet-based products are the natural next step.

The case of NT server is double-edged for Notes. On the one hand, Lotus must support NT and NT is an excellent server platform for both file sharing and client/server systems. On the other hand, Exchange presents file server based messaging customers with a similar set of problems, although it might be more economical for customers using NT as a server platform. At the same time, NT is the flagship server offering from the same company that is focusing on messaging and groupware with Exchange.

MESSAGING ALIVE AND WELL

Groupware has a lot to offer and Notes is the leader. Notes has an excellent e-mail component but in spite of this, for the reasons stated above, the messaging market isn't about to disappear. Looking for a moment to the history of groupware, it's important to remember that Notes got its start in the mid 1980's and that by 1990 there were other groupware products on the market. They never went anywhere. What happened during the past 5 years was the e-mail boom, and e-mail is still going strong. In spite of the fact that groupware is now ready for prime time, e-mail has become a key business system enhancing communication and collaboration enough that the added benefits of groupware are less compelling to mainstream messaging customers than they might have been a few years earlier. Nevertheless, groupware is evolving rapidly and offers ever greater features and benefits.

BM and Lotus are aware of this and that's why there's a new generation of cc:Mail in 1996. Microsoft is aware of this and that's why they've targeted Exchange at the messaging market. Netscape and other Internet-based companies are also aware of this and this is why they are introducing new Internet-based e-mail products. Internet and on-line service providers, including CompuServe and Microsoft Network, are also aware of this and this is why they are offering and continuing to introduce a variety of commercial e-mail and e-mail gateway services.

In some respects, the messaging marketplace is more active and viable than ever. There is also a market for groupware and there is clearly some overlap, but what does this mean? Customers still need e-mail, whether or not they're ready to invest in groupware. Since groupware is more cost-effective for some types of businesses than others and because a customer's installed base of hardware and file servers will vary, it's safe to say that groupware, while offering tremendous benefits to some customers, isn't the right answer for every customer.

Sometimes groupware is overkill for a customer's needs; sometimes groupware is too expensive because the customer has to build an all-new client/server infrastructure in a traditional file server environment. Given today's installed base of workstation, network and file server hardware -- although client/server technologies are clearly mainstream -- not every e-mail customer is ready for groupware.

Also, there's no indication that traditional file server technologies are on their way out. In fact, client/serer technology is nothing new -- it predates file server-based LANs by many years. An interesting trend in the emergence of hybrid file server and client/server systems, namely UNIX with NFS, NT, and server products running under Novell's UnixWare or NetWare operating systems. Groupware-based applications offer superior ways of managing documents and distributing information, but not every customer can see a financial return in migrating user data from existing file servers and LAN-based applications to client/server systems, especially in the short term.

MORE THAN E-MAIL

cc:Mail customers are just as likely to upgrade to Microsoft Exchange -- especially if they have NT file servers -- or to Open Systems products -- especially if they use World Wide Web and SMTP on their intranet -- as they are to migrate to Notes. Notes was first in groupware and that's an advantage, but to stay ahead its requirements have remained demanding compared to the installed base of systems; and Notes remains relatively expensive, especially when a customer has an existing software investment in LAN-based e-mail.

Customers looking for more than mail have a growing range of alternatives -- not just Notes. By the time the majority of cc:Mail customers have the hardware infrastructure to support Notes there will be more and better alternatives -- including Internet and Open Systems groupware products. Also, Notes' support for Internet standards, while strategically brilliant, is only halfway; and the fact that Lotus made this move tells us they perceive Internet as a threat to Notes' groupware hegemony.

In another year of two of hardware depreciation, technology advances, falling prices; and as client/server technologies continue to grow in the LAN environment, cc:Mail customers will undoubtedly find Notes more attractive. However, a variety of promising middle-ground solutions exist already and will surely continue to multiply and improve in the future.